Preparedness for when

maryb

By the way, it is not an urban myth about confiscating cuticle clippers - it happened to me at Orlando airport in November 2001. It was really odd - I'd already landed but I had to go through some sort of hub where they were checking baggage even for incoming passengers and that's where they found my washbag with said clippers. I could have pointed out that I could get new ones about twenty yards away but so soon after 9/11 I thought discretion was the better part etc

[Deleted User]

I can happily buy a military surplus Humvee, still in military colours, complete with gun mounts, and nobody will bat an eyelid.

However, if I were to buy a "Combat Knife" (whatever the hell one of those actually is), people would look sideways at me. :huh:

Likewise, something like a Remington 788 bolt action rifle, with a polished wooden stock, is seen as a "Hunting Rifle", and hence semi-respectable.

Put a black composite, ventilated stock, and a full pistol grip, on a similar rifle and, despite the fact it's still bolt action, and of the same calibre, it now looks like a "Military Rifle" and is perceived to be more dangerous. :huh:

[Deleted User]

Perplexed_Pineapple wrote: »

Yes, although I would probably spend a bit more on the San Mai III version if you're intending it to be your main survival/bushcrafting knife.

I wasn't actually presenting that as a knife of choice.

I was just showing the type I thought you were referring to.

Logically, there is no real difference, in so far as using it as a weapon, between that and a Tanto.

Indeed, with the clip point (which puts the blade's point in line with the centre line of the handle), the SRK is probably better suited to stabbing, than the Tanto.

westcoastscot

Geez gq wanna come live with me?

I live near and work with folks loosely like some of your neighbours - its a totally different scenario in a wee place where everyone knows everyone - very low levels of violence. Reading your post reminds me of when i lived in london.

Keep safe!

[Deleted User]

westcoastscot wrote: »

With respect though, if you walked around with a kitchen knife in your hand or a chainsaw unless kitted up for wood cutting tptb would be asking you what your plans were.

True, but GQ referred to "legitimate household items", not about carrying them around in public, and let's be honest, someone intent on carnage isn't going to care about TPTB.

What we're saying is, "legitimate household items" like kitchen knives, chainsaws, etc., are freely available to any adult, no questions asked, yet something perceived as a "Combat Knife" attracts far more attention.

If I were intent on stabbing someone, I certainly wouldn't spend dozens/hundreds of pounds, on a "Combat Knife" from a specialist shop, with the inherent risk of being remembered by the sales assistant.

Rather, I spend about a tenner, on a mass produced Kitchen Knife, at supermarket, where I'm less likely to be remembered.

JayneC

Went to Lond*n on Fri to watch DD3 performing (she's at drama school) at the Tower and as I approached the security at the entrance suddenly realised my little Swiss army type gadget was in my handbag. Oops! ! Luckily handbag was jam packed with all sorts of random carp and it went unnoticed. Whew! Lol. X

GreyQueen

westcoastscot wrote: »

Geez gq wanna come live with me?

It's a lovely offer but I've met the Scottish midges and they just lurve my sassenach skin......... besides, I'm a 5 min stroll from work atm, and the beautiful west coast would be a tough commute.

What goes on at Shoebox Towers isn't any worse than what's going on in social housing neighbourhoods across this city and many others. And this is a small city in the sticks, not Lunnon Town or a great conurbation.

My nerves are pretty good but then, my situational awareness is probably a lot higher than that of people living in more peaceful parts of the country. I walk around corners in this block with a good sense of alertness. You never know what you'll find around a blind bend here; some numptie shooting up, a drug-dealer, the polis.

I have a robust (and blackish) sense of humour and am physically not a delicate little flower, which helps. Unfortunately, with an income as low as mine, I don't have a lot of choices, accomodation-wise, as I need to be where the work is and I cannot afford a vehicle or public transportation costs.

We were all shocked about the bloke getting half-killed because no one heard it. Dozens of people were asleep not far away and would have called 999 in a shot, but it was done silently and no one heard a thing. We felt bad about that.

When the woman was attacked, lots of people inc me shot out of their flats in their jammies and some guys went after the !!!!!!, which gives you some hope for human nature. Didn't catch the beggar, tho.

The_Thrilla

Knife fighting, eh? Chef knives are fine, but you would need to get one with a sturdy blade, or the blade might snap before it goes deep enough to do real damage, especially if it hits bone. If you already have a machete in the garden, that is good, too. In the wild country, you can also use it for the purpose for which it is intended. Owning knives is one thing. Using them is something else. Unless you are well trained in knife fighting, then it is best to use two knives. If you are right handed, you use the knife in your left hand to divert your opponent's attention. Once he has his gaze on the left knife, you deliver the fatal thrust (or cut with the machete) with the right. Not very nice, of course, but we are talking survival.

With regards to carrying equipment. Ideally, you should know where you are going before you set out. You can then prepare yourself by hiding equipment and non-perishable foodstuffs at your destination in advance, so you keep your bugout bag as light as possible.

[Deleted User]

I always carry my tiny swiss army type penkinfe even when on those very infrequent occasions I use a (sorry!)Handbag!!!! I pop it into one of the tiny pockets NOT because I want to use it in anger on anyone for any reason but because it has a tiny pair of scissors built in and a nail file, and a screwdriver all of which I find have been necessary for me or other people in the past. It's much easier to carry around in one neat package than jingling my way through life with multitudinous metal implements in my baggage.

GreyQueen

Morning all.

It would be the ideal to have a BOL (ususal acronym for Bug Out Location) which could be pre-established and pre-stocked with supplies and equipment. And to head there to hunker down.

This is a common part of the US prepping books/ sites, but they have 300 million of them on a continent, whereas we have 60-70 mil (depending who's collecting the data) on a pretty small island.

We simply have far fewer places to run and hide and, unless circumstance has you in possession of land/ holiday home in another part of the country, you'd need to be pretty rich to set yourself up a BOL from scratch. Unless you're talking camping in the woods, of course.

And the UK is very well-mapped, thanks to the superb Ordinance Survey, so even without access to sat-nav and GPS, there are very few places truly off-grid.

Mark you, given that almost no one under 25 seems to be able to navigate the public highway with only a road atlas and signage these days, perhaps I worry too much.:rotfl:

The blogger FerFAL has some interesting things to say about bugging out to live in the boonies. He's been thru the economic collapse in Argentina and what happened there was that people in isolated homesteads became targets for home invasions inc rapes, robberies and murders. They were too remote from their neighbours for mutual assistance and hours away from police.

He's also commented that in economic downturns, world over, people don't head into the boonies, they head into cities and towns to find work. So, if you're contemplating hiding out on your doomstead, you really need to be ecomomically self-sufficient, as well as supplying as many of your own resources as possible.

The autor and blogger Rawles aslo comments about town vs homestead hideouts, and that if you are going to be "in town" you need to be well within the built-up area to reap the benefits of having neighbours around for mutual defence/ assitance, as if you're on the periphery, you might as well be miles out. Of course, allowances have to be made for the different nautre of US settlements, as they are a lot more spread-out than ours.

I'm concentrating on keeping as Grey as possible, hoping that if people are going a-looting, they won't think a tiny flat in a deprived neighbourhood like mine would be their best bet. Go to the big houses on Acacia Avenue, pleeeze. Nothing to see or take here, move right along, sunshine.

I think a lot of prepping is commonsense, and part of commonsense is not drawing unwanted attention from TPTB as well as the neighbours. If you are employed as a chef, you have legitimate reasons to be carrying a case of knives to and fro work. If you decided to take your meat-cleaver out clubbing, you could expect to have some serious explanations to make, if caught.

Ditto a lot of things, such as air-rifles and archery kit. It's not at all uncommon for me to hear air weapons being discharged on the rough estate near the lotties and I can look out my window now and see something pocked with pellet holes from where an ex-neighbour used to shoot his air-pistol out the window.

Housing officers tell me that it's astonishing how many homes they visit have a baseball bat in the hall, right by the front door. Given that most Brits couldn't play baseball to save themselves. And there seems to be a fashion for having samurai swords as home decorations.

Any very ordinary home is replete with potential weapons, but taking them out of their context would be something I'd only contemplate in the most dire of crises.

And if it is the most dire of crises, my stance is that if you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone, but if you want to start something against my best interests, be aware that I'm a lot more attached to my own hide than I am to yours.